Emperor Shah Alam II (r. 1760-1806) on the Peacock Throne

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Emperor Shah Alam II (r. 1760-1806) on the Peacock Throne

India, Delhi, Mughal Empire, 1801
Drawings; watercolors
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
13 3/4 x 9 1/8 in. (34.9 x 23.2 cm)
Indian Art Special Purpose Fund (M.77.78)
South and Southeast Asian Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Emperor Shah Alam II (r. 1760-1806) was born in 1728. His birth name was Ali Gauhar (or Ali Gohar). He was the Crown Prince of his father, Emperor Alamgir II (r....
Emperor Shah Alam II (r. 1760-1806) was born in 1728. His birth name was Ali Gauhar (or Ali Gohar). He was the Crown Prince of his father, Emperor Alamgir II (r. 1754-1759), who was assassinated in 1759 by Imad ul-Mulk (d. 1800), the grand vizier of the Mughal Empire who was allied with the Maratha Empire. After being tortured and fearing for his life, Prince Ali Gauhar fled Delhi with the help of the Lucknow Nawab Shuja al-Daula (r. 1754–75). He was appointed Emperor by the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani (r. 1747–1772), who sacked Delhi in 1759, deposed Imad ul-Mulk’s puppet Emperor Shah Jahan III (r. 1759-1760), and installed Shah Alam II as the emperor in 1760. Shah Alam II inherited a weakened Mughal Empire plagued by military incursions, including that of the Afghan Rohilla chief Ghulam Qadir (d. 1789), who sacked Delhi and blinded Shah Alam II in 1788. In 1803 the British occupied Delhi during the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-1805), and Shah Alam II continued to rule in name only under the protection of the British. The blind Shah Alam II is seated on a replacement Peacock Throne, the original of which was plundered by the Iranian King Nadir Shah (r. 1736-1747) during his sack of Delhi in 1739. He is granting a private audience, perhaps to a minister. The painting is signed by the artist Khairullah Musawir (India, active 1800-1815) and dated AH 1215 (1800-1801 CE). Two other renditions of this portrait are known. One is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.114-1986).
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